In Modi regime, silence is no safe harbour: Kapil Sibal

Modi speaks about Mahatma Gandhi and tries to appropriate him from the Congress, but 'he is doing everything opposite of what Gandhi said,' Sibal said

Skirting questions on protests outside his house following his statement questioning recent decisions of the party high command, senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal on Saturday said that under the regime of Prime Minister Narendra Modi "silence is not a safe harbour."

He said that if anyone is silent against the "atrocity of this government" then that person is complicit.

Sibal said this while answering questions of media persons in Ahmedabad where he landed to participate in Girish Patel Memorial Lecture on "India in the age of Modi".

Responding to a question on a tweet by his party colleague P Chidambaram, Sibal said, "What Chidambaram says, ask him. He is a colleague of mine. I have no comment. I can only say that in politics, when I talk about Modi, safe harbour is not silence. ...to oppose Modi safe harbour is not silence."

He clarified that "It's not a comment on Chidambaram but Modi... this is not a time to be silent. If you are silent against the atrocities of this government then you are complicit."

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Chidambaram stated in his tweet on September 30 that "I feel helpless when we cannot start meaningful conversations within party forums. I also feel hurt and helpless when I see pictures of Congress workers raising slogans outside the residence of a colleague and MP. The safe harbour to which one can withdraw seems to be silence." He said that following a protest by Congress workers outside Sibal's house in Delhi.

Saying that he had "no grievances" against anyone in the party, Sibal said, "I have already made my statement and there is nothing more to add. I am still a Congress worker and have come to Gujarat as one." He also said that he had neither invited any Congress leader for a meeting nor anyone came to meet him.

When asked about the G-23 group, he said, "There is no such group...you(media) have named it... it is sort of a set of people who want reform from within." G-23 includes several senior party leaders including Ghulam Navi Azad Shashi Tharoor, Manish Tewari, among others, who had written to the party high command demanding several reforms.

To a question of BJP appropriating Gandhi, Sibal said that "he (Modi) talks of Gandhi as a great leader who brought us freedom and that Gandhi was from Gujarat. But he is doing everything opposed to what Gandhi ji stood for. Even Sardar patel, the iron man, is also being appropriated. What did he (Patel) say about RSS... when I talk in parliament that 'alright, condemn Godse for having killed Gandhi', no BJP member will stand up and dare and condemn Godse. What does it tell you about - how can this party even think of appropriating Gandhi."

He also said that the BJP has "changed the rules of the game" for opposition parties. Giving an example of cricket he said, "Cricket is played by the rules. If you have a doubt about an LBW or a catch, the decision is to be given by the third umpire. Here, they have taken over every system and they have become umpires."

"ED is the umpire, CBI is the umpire, they try to influence courts, they have captured the system. If you change the rules, then there will be no middle ground," he added. He further said that whoever is criticising this government gets raided by CBI or ED.

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